On this week's Off The Bench, author Ivan Morris joined presenter Cliona Foley to talk about groundbreakers in Irish women's golf, equality battles and a 125 year legacy in his new book A History of Women's Golf in Ireland.
One of the golfers Morris highlighted in the interview was Philomena Garvey, the first professional women's golfer in Ireland, with the author commenting: "She was a fantastic person. She had four brothers. She grew up in Baltray outside Drogheda and she was the youngest of five. Her brothers were all golfers.
"And Philomena tagged along behind with her brothers and played golf with her brothers. Her brothers were good to her and encouraged her and they taught her how to play and by the time she was 21, she was better than her brothers.
"She turned professional in 1964 and believe it or not, she played an exhibition in Castletroy in Limerick where I come from and where I live, and in 1964 she played with Christy O'Connor senior, Eric Brown the Ryder Cup player and Brian Huggett from Wales who was also a Ryder Cup player and Ryder Cup captain. These guys were serial winners."
Garvey, who passed away aged 83 in 2009, was also a serial winner.
"She played in 15 finals and won every one of them. Just think about that for a second," he said.
"But not only did she win them but she won them by huge margins. She won them by 5&4, 6&4, 7&5, 8&7... she won them by huge margins."
You can listen to the full interview on the podcast player below or stream/download on iTunes:
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